Peyton Manning runs for a touchdown in the first half of Sunday’s game in Dallas. (Associated Press file)

Think of all the TV shows that have been out there since Labor Day. The Big Bang Theory. NCIS. The Biggest Loser. Eric & Jessie.

Across the TV land, Broncos games had three of the four most watched TV shows and four of the top seven. The 12 most watched TV shows since Labor Day were all NFL games. The “Big Bang” Theory was the best of the rest at No. 13.

Peyton Manning hits Broncos tight end Julius Thomas with a completion in the first half at Dallas on Sunday. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

According to the excellent stats site Football Outsiders, the Broncos have a 99.1 percent chance of making the playoffs, based on their performance through Week Five of the season. That 99.1 percent chance is the highest among the 32 NFL teams; next best are the Seahawks, who have a 97.8 percent chance, according to the site.

The Broncos’ divisional rivals, the Chiefs, have a 92.2 percent chance, second-best among AFC teams.

You may have seen the note in Tuesday’s paper about the Broncos’ offense being tied for the second-most points ever in the first three games of a season, with 127. (Only the 1968 Cowboys, with 132 points in their first three games, have had more.) Here’s a closer look at this crazy-good offense and just how much better it is than the rest of the NFL:

If you look closely at the Broncos’ regular-season schedule this year, you’ll notice they play sets of non-division games against the NFC East (New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Mike Shanahan’s Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles) and the AFC South (Indianapolis, Tennessee, Houston, Jacksonville).

According to the NFL Record and Fact Book, the Broncos next year will play non-division sets against the AFC East (Yes, another game against New England, plus Miami, New York Jets and Buffalo) and NFC West (San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Arizona).

Pay attention, then, to the Broncos’ preseason schedule this year when they play San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis and Arizona.

Stan Kroenke, left, with his son, Josh Kroenke during a shootaround with the Nuggets before a playoff game with the Golden State Warriors. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

In seeking upgrades to its NFL home, the Edward Jones Dome, the St. Louis Rams asked their local government for just about everything, including a retractable roof. The estimated cost to fulfill the Rams’ wish list came to $700 million.

The local government, more specifically the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, informed the Rams on Friday it would not be funding such a proposal.

“Everybody’s on the same page,” Jeff Rainford, chief of staff for St. Louis mayor Francis Slay, told the Associated Press. “It was a no-brainer. There was nobody in St. Louis who thought that the Rams proposal was a good idea, other than the Rams.”

New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez (81) runs for a huge gain on the first drive of the game between Denver Broncos and New England Patriots during an AFC Division Playoff game on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, at Gillette Stadium. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Perhaps more than Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski, former New England Patriot and current murder suspect Aaron Hernandez was a difficult matchup for the Broncos’ defense.

A Patriots tight end/tailback, Hernandez played two games against the Broncos, both in the 2011 season.

In a December regular season game, Hernandez had 9 catches for 129 yards and a touchdown and also had one rush for 16 yards. The Pats won 41-23.

The league discovered many clubs were using the towel. The Chargers were fined $20,000, though, for not completely cooperating with officials when asked for the towel during the game. And no team can use the sticky towel from now on.

Whatever. I’m all for the slap on the wrist.

All the gouging, scratching, tackling, blocking, head-butting, cutting, grabbing and high-speed collisions that goes on in football, all the sticky gloves, skin-tight undergarments and eye black — and a sticky towel gives a team a competitive advantage? Much was made about something that doesn’t mean very much.

To a man, the Broncos say they believe upcoming opponent Cincinnati is more talented than the Bengals’ 3-4 record might suggest.

Denver (4-3) plays Sunday at Cincinnati, a team that has lost three straight after opening the season with three victories in its opening four games.

“They’re a team that’s extremely talented,” Broncos safety Jim Leonhard said Wednesday following practice. “That scares you. That puts you on alert.”

There are no sure wins in the NFL, Leonhard said.

“You can’t just throw it out there,” he said. “They’re a team that they can get it any given week. You don’t want it to be you. You want to kick a guy when he’s down on every given week. You don’t get too many opportunities to play teams that are struggling a little bit.

“You just have to put pressure on them early because you know they’re hungry and will keep fighting.”

It might be the classic, which-came-first, chicken-or-the-egg question. The one about whether or not a potential Hall of Fame coach needs a potential Hall of Fame quarterback, or vice versa.

But in the shadow of Sunday’s Tom Brady-Peyton Manning matchup — just the second time when two quarterbacks with at least 125 career wins faced each other in a game — the answer in the post-1960 NFL appears to be that the coach needs the quarterback to reach pro football’s highest career honor.

And that’s good news for Patriots coach Bill Belichick, as are the three Super Bowl rings on his fingers with Brady behind center.

The Green Bay Packers aren’t the only ones feeling snakebit by the egregious blown call at the end of their Monday Night Football game against the Seahawks.

When the referees ruled Golden Tate Touchdown and not M.D. Jennings interceptions, millions of dollars shifted in Las Vegas.

According to R.J. Bell of betting site PreGame.com, the final play resulted in a $300 million swing, with bettors losing and bookies winning.

Bell says that 68 percent of bets were placed on Green Bay, a three-and-a-half point pregame favorite. Bell says that means that more than $150 million more money was bet on the Packers to win than Seattle.

I understand because I covered Josh McDaniels for two years. Schiano needs to understand, though, that if he doesn’t admit he was wrong for attacking Eli Manning on the “victory” kneel down Sunday, his own quarterback Josh Freeman will be an open target every time he has the lead in the final minute.

Then what? Schiano today said he no regrets or remorse about telling his team to play to the last second. That’s so college rah-rah. Freeman, the Bucs’ quarterback, should tell his coach to reconsider.

That’s what we learned after the first full weekend of games, when 10 teams scored at least 30 points in their season openers. Nine of those teams won.

In all, NFL teams scored 791 points from Wednesday’s kickoff game in New York through the back-half of the Monday double header in Oakland. According to the league, that’s the second-most in any one week in league history.

The Broncos did their part by contributing 31 of those points in their 31-19 win against Pittsburgh. But it only ranked them No. 8 in total points for the week.

Here’s the top 10:

1. New York Jets – 48

2. Baltimore – 44

3. Chicago – 41

T4. Atlanta – 40

T4. Washington – 40

6. New England – 34

7. New Orleans – 32 (The Saints lost to the Redskins)

8. Denver – 31

T9. San Francisco – 30

T9. Houston – 30.

Are you surprised by the offensive onslaught in the opening week? Do any of those scores stick out to you?

If anything, we know the Broncos-Falcons game on Monday night could be quite the shootout.

The wise guys are apparently sold on Peyton Manning. According to the Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, the Broncos’ odds of winning the Super Bowl have improved to 10-to-1, which is tied for third with San Francisco and Houston.

“We’ve had a run of money on the Broncos,” said Jay Korengay, who heads the sports book of the Las Vegas Hotel.

Replacement referees Richard Schackelford and Barry Wilson argue with the Bears during the preseason.

Prior to the Broncos-49ers’ preseason game Sunday, I was on the sideline talking with Mike Pereira, the former vice president of NFL officials. He was telling me there was no way an agreement between the league and striking officials would be reached prior to the regular season.

I told him I thought commissioner Roger Goodell was too smart to let such a monstrous event as the NFL regular season begin with a group of second-hand officials who have been at best been hesitant during the preseason and at worse incompetent.

The Boston Herald reports that former Bronco Brandon Lloyd has gained the trust from his new quarterback and team. Bill Belichick also discusses the possibility of joint practices with the Saints during training camp.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.